Zucchwinni!

Earlier this week, while babysitting my heart out, my cute little niece asked if I would make zucchini bread. Would I?! Talk about the most ultimate bonding experience you could have with two little girls. And yes, I realized I used "most" and "ultimate" together-- trying to let my emotion flow through the keyboard. :)

So we got their giant zucchini from their garden-- another plus I might add. And I immediately went to my go-to recipe site: www.allrecipes.com.

Maybe as a self-proclaimed foodies you would think that I might turn to something more gourmet or less mainstream. NOPE! I really like allrecipes because they allow people to rate the recipes and leave comments with their results and variations on the recipe. When I have oodles of time I love to pour through these comments... especially if I am missing an ingredient, which is usually the case!
But we were short on time... it was already bed time and I let them stay up *gasp* an hour late! I rock. I pretty much found the best recipe of all time... Mom's Zucchini Bread, with a 5 STAR rating and 3,311 votes. HELLO! Obviously this is a bomb.com recipe. And so, with my food loving friends, I share this bounty:

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• MOM'S ZUCCHINI BREAD

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 3 eggs

• 1 cup vegetable oil

• 2 1/4 cups white sugar

• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 cups grated zucchini

• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.

3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Nutritional Information Amount Per Serving  Calories: 223 | Total Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 26mg 

Now, as I mentioned before, I did not have all of the ingredients-- NO BAKING POWDER! What's a girl to do? Well, if you don't have baking powder, you certainly don't have cream of tartar. Seriously. And then I found that you can substitute 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 cup buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt (to replace 1/2 cup liquid called for in recipe). So again, I am going to be honest... I didn't read the parentheses and I did not remove any liquid anywhere else. Well, in this Utah altitude that was MONEY! Talk about moist delightful... MUFFINS!

Warm happiness for the soul. 

That's right... I forgot to tell you our other variation... we made MUFFINS! This is very handy for giving a little girl a job... fill those muffin tins, soldier! 


So, the two little girls and I stirred and mixed to our hearts content (I had to step in a few times to get some powerful stirring happening), AND then we split the batter in half and each girl got to choose which color they want their zucchini muffins to be. Yes, I am magic... or just okay with food coloring. So we made watermelon red and aqua teal (turned out more green) zucchini muffins that were so cinnamony sweet, you knew these weren't health food muffins. 


Enjoy the recipe! 3,312 people already have! :D
-M

In The Garden...

I am having a love affair... with
BASIL!!!

Can't get enough of the green stuff... 

And don't worry, my husband is okay with it. :) 

My husband is not a big fan of flowers, because he does not think they are practical. On the other hand, he loves growing things that he can actually eat-- tomatoes, peppers, etc. All spring (ahem... if I can call it that), whenever we discussed our "garden" I would always throw in, "And basil!" "And I can get a basil plant!" "Don't forget the basil!" And so it was! 

I'm not sure exactly where this love affair started... I'm pretty sure it's been less than a year. I used to think basil was boring. What was I thinking?! HELLO Bruschetta, Basil Alfredo Pizza, Pesto... So many good things have basil at their core. 

One of my new faves is Vietnemese Pho. You haven't had it?! Give me a call, and we'll go get some together. Once I have had a few more pho adventures, I will be fully ready to post about it's magical qualities, but for now all you need to know is it comes with a big plate of all the goodies to put in (see the below picture) and add your desired flavors, including a big bushel of basil. Yup, and some people just eat the leaf straight off the stem. You know who you are! :) 

Basil, Limes,Sprouts, OH MY! 

So, now that my little plant is just growing up a storm, I have already embarked on a few culinary adventures. I have made a yummy pizza with ricotta and basil... and my favorite was lasagna! I have never made a real lasagna before, and I was quite impressed with myself. Or maybe it's just the recipe. :) 

There is something about good basic ingredients, with great flavor, that just gets the job done. I think the essential parts of this lasagna are the basil and the Italian sausage. MMM! So good! I changed this recipe up a little bit... I used a tomato sauce mixed with alfredo, threw some spinach and mushrooms in for good karma, and voila! A masterpiece! Try it out! 

Sausage Cheese Basil Lasagna

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound spicy Italian sausages, casings removed
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes with added puree
• 1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes with green pepper and onion (do not drain)

Filling:

• 1 1/2 cups (packed) fresh basil leaves
• 1 15-ounce container plus 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 cups (packed) grated mozzarella cheese (about 6 ounces)
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Assembly:

• 12 no-boil lasagna noodles from one 8-ounce package
• 3 cups (packed) grated mozzarella cheese (about 12 ounces)
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
• Nonstick olive oil spray

preparation

Sauce:
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add sausages, onion, garlic, oregano and crushed red pepper and sauté until sausage is cooked through, mashing sausage into small pieces with back of fork, about 10 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes with juices. Bring sauce to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes to blend flavors. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill until cold, then cover and keep chilled.)

Filling:
Using on/off turns, chop fresh basil leaves finely in processor. Add ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, egg, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Using on/off turns, process filling until just blended and texture is still chunky.

Assembly:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread 1 1/4 cups sauce in 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Arrange 3 noodles on sauce. Drop 1 1/2 cups filling over noodles, then spread evenly to cover. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layering of sauce, noodles, filling and cheeses 2 more times. Top with remaining 3 noodles. Spoon remaining sauce atop noodles. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Spray large piece of foil with nonstick olive oil spray. Cover lasagna with foil, sprayed side down.

Bake lasagna 40 minutes. Carefully uncover. Increase oven temperature to 400°F. Bake until noodles are tender, sauce bubbles thickly and edges of lasagna are golden and puffed, about 20 minutes. Transfer to work surface; let stand 15 minutes before serving

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sausage-Cheese-and-Basil-Lasagna-103005#ixzz1QXI3rUTs